What is the difference between 「食べるいいですか」 and 「食べていいですか」About the meaning of the -te form... In this example, it's not a form of command. -te form can have many meanings, and in this case, it's used to connect the verb to the i-adj, which acts as a verb. Literally, it's something like "I eat and it's okay?".

Nov3

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の as a substitute for beings"thing" is a noun that refers to inanimate objects, not human beings, sure, but の is just a particle and as such carries no information about animacy.

What are the rules regarding “mute vowels” (“u” after “s” and “i” after “sh”)?Excellent answer. I just wanted to add that devoicing is generally a gradual process: a voiceless consonant will always somewhat devoice the following vowel at its onset, and consequently, the shorter the vowel the less likely it is that it will be voiced, and the longer the vowel, the more likely some kind of voicing will surface. "desu" is often noted as a perfect example of devoicing, but it's not -- it's quite common to hear people say something like "sou desuuuu" and make the u long and voiced.

Oct24

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の as a substitute for beingsI see no reason の couldn't replace a person either. I'd translate your sentence as "Who's the one who can't see?".